MIRA Blog

MIRA advocates for the rights and opportunities of immigrants and refugees. In partnership with its members, MIRA advances this mission through policy analysis and advocacy, institutional organizing, training and leadership development, and strategic communications.

To celebrate the Fourth of July, MIRA staff spoke to four New Americans about their perspectives on the immigrant journey, and about the plight of Aspiring Americans — the 11 million undocumented immigrants who this summer are hoping Congress will pass sensible and humane immigration reform. Here are their stories!

On this terrible day of tragedy and uncertainty in Greater Boston, we at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition extend our deepest condolences to the family of officer Sean Collier, who was killed in the line of duty yesterday. We also offer our hopes for a speedy recovery to those hurt, and our prayers for continued safety and security to all residents of the Bay State.

After what seems like an eternity of waiting, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finally issued the final rule for provisional waivers of inadmissibility, what advocates are calling the “Family Unity Waiver”. DHS initially announced back in January 2012 that it would make changes to the way that undocumented relatives of US Citizens could re-enter the United States after leaving the country to obtain an immigration visa abroad. In April, DHS issued an interim rule and requested comments from the public. On January 3, 2013, DHS released the final rule which incorporates some of the suggestions from public comments, but leaves many of our major concerns untouched. The final rule will go into effect on March 4, 2013.

The Old Rule

The new rule is necessary because of the unfair way that the federal government processes I-601s, Applications for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), certain undocumented relatives of US Citizens who benefit from a family-based petition had to leave the United States in order to obtain their immigration visa from a US consulate. The problem is, once an undocumented individual leaves the country, they are subject to a 10-year bar to returning. So essentially, the person is leaving the country to obtain documents required to be here legally, but once they leave, they are not legally allowed to return for 10 years. The INA does allow an individual to file the I-601 to request permission to return to the United States prior to the 10 years, but current regulations say that the individual must file the I-601 outside the country. That means that the beneficiary of the immigration visa must leave the country and be subject to the 10 year bar first, then file the application and hope they are allowed back into the country.

A lament of education reformers in recent years has been the declining share of U.S. college students entering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) professions—and the loss of opportunity for both those students and the U.S. economy as a whole.

A new report from the Information Technology Industry Council, the Partnership for a New American Economy, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce tells another, less familiar part of this story, though one well-known to those paying attention: the growing role of immigrant workers in these same STEM industries, where the foreign-born account for 26.1% of workers with PhDs and 17.7% of master’s degree holders.

With the first debate focusing on domestic topics and the third debate covering foreign policy issues extensively, only the second meeting between the Presidential candidates provided insight into either’s plan for immigration reform.

As the race for the Senate seat in Massachusetts heats up and Election Day draws near, it is important to consider the effects the outcome will have on the state’s minority and immigrant communities – and vice versa.

The town of Milford has been surprisingly successful in drumming up media attention around its agreement with ICE to sign on to its "IMAGE" program, which would give the city access to the controversial E-Verify system. Although we would like to ignore this piece of political theater, we are obliged to state our reservations concerning the program.

The Boston Globe's blog "The Podium" published an editorial by MIRA's executive director, Eva Millona, explaining why the new RMV provision won't make Massachusetts any safer. Read the article or see the full text below. Take action on this issue!

Targeting undocumented immigrants

By Eva A. Millona | JULY 24, 2012

The Legislature recently pushed through a provision in the state budget that clearly targeted undocumented immigrants, requiring the RMV to ask for “proof of legal residence” before applicants could register their vehicles. In seeking to amend that language, Governor Patrick noted that “it serves the public’s safety interests to know, through registration, the name and whereabouts of the owner of every vehicle on the Commonwealth’s roads.” But the Legislature sided with state lawmakers from Arizona to Alabama who want to dedicate state resources to the federal issue of immigration checks — by the Department of Transportation’s estimate, the provision will cost over a million dollars to implement.

This Saturday, MIRA will join the Greater Boston Citizenship Initiative (GCBI) in hosting our only Boston-area citizenship clinic of the summer. These free clinics provide legal permanents residents (LPRs) with the guidance, referrals and materials needed to successfully complete their application, pass their citizenship test, and become fully integrated and engaged U.S. citizens.